Morphometric investigation of the cavum cranii in Hamdani sheep using computed tomography images

Morphometric Investigation of the Cavum Cranii in Hamdani Sheep Using Computed Tomography Images, University of Van Yuzuncu Yıl, Institute of Healty Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Deparment of Anatomy, Master Thesis, Van, 2024. This study aimed to obtain osteometric measurements of the cavum cranii in Hamdani sheep, a domestic breed in Türkiye, using computed tomography (CT) images, to calculate index values, and to reveal the statistical biometric differences in both morphometric and index measurements in terms of sexual dimorphism. CT images of the skulls of a total of 16 adult, healthy Hamdani sheep, 8 females and 8 males, were used in the study. 26 morphometric and 14 index measurement parameters were extracted from transversal, sagittal, and dorsal sections of the cavum cranii. Subsequently, statistical analysis of these measurement values was performed. It was observed that all osteometric measurement values were higher in male sheep than in female sheep. The SECI-II and DECI-II measurement values were calculated to be significantly significantly higher in male sheep compared to female sheep (p<0.05). Although there were negative correlations between statistically significant measurement values in both morphometric and index measurements of the cavum cranii, mostly positive significant correlations were detected. In the context of ROC analysis for predicting gender, when examining the measurement values, it was seen that the cut-off values of the DFMU1 measurement had a high level of discrimination power between male and female sheep and of 99.9% discrimination(p<0.05). In addition, according to the determined cut-off value of DICII and DECI-II index measurements, it was detected that their discriminatory power in distinguishing between male and female sheeps was 79.7% and 79.7%, respectively. It was determined that the power of these index values to distinguish male and female sheep was statistically significant (p<0.05). As a result, statistical differences of the biometric measurement values obtained from the transversal, sagittal and dorsal planes of the cavum cranii in Hamdani sheep between males and females were determined using CT images. It is thought that the data obtained will be a reference for studies determining pathological conditions related to the region, taxonomic studies, various branches of science such as anatomy, surgery and zooarchaeology, especially in veterinary clinical practice areas. Key words: Anatomy, Computed Tomography, Cavum Cranii, Hamdani Sheep, Morphometry